Things To Consider When Building Your Own Wood Boiler!
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
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Water is the best heat (cold) bank, better than stone. A small indoor salt pool will keep those living in cold climates warm, clean, and happy for many hours after the fire has gone out. In warm climates, a cool pool of water set in stone is delightful. I'm all for a big tank of water you can sit in.
Best education on the matter - hands down. Love the format. It's "to the point". Thank you!
Wow, thanks!
Thank you, I have been debating build or buy... for our new home. I think you helped me realize I can do this and have given me some important aspects of design, I will certainly be putting to use.
I must have watched a dozen of these videos before I found your channel. You explain this all extremely well and very succinctly. Thank you!
Wow, thank you!
@@AltheatsupplyLLC I have an idea for a boiler and I would like to send you some drawings to get your input on my design. How can I contact you?
Thank you for lending your knowledge.
Much Appreciated Sir.
dude nice video... almost though i was at the training center nice
Oh man, so smart and informative! Big thanks
Thank you! Your very welcome!!
I find burning homemade charcoal against a momotube boiler safe and easiest to build and maintain. I run both piston- steam and turbine-steam engines turning a whole house. Steam technology is a well proven.
Hey just like to thank you for all your videos. Helped us build are own boiler, made a video kind of showing it off on my channel. My dad is using the fan system on his and seen noticeable gains in how fast the water heats up. It is night and day compared to the draft door we used to use.
Hey. Could you share the link to your boiler? Thanks
Now I know where to get parts when needed. Thanks
Thank you and we appreciate our customers...
I liked it and I think your drawing was good.
I built my boiler out of a 250 gallon LP tank. I cut one end off and put in a 40 gallon tank for a burn chamber. I have about 200 gallons of hot water in my boiler tank. Chimney out the top. For my chimney port I used a 6" grain auger tube. It is galvanized inside and out and is 1/8" thick steel. I built 1/2" copper coils in my system. I don't pump boiler water into my system. I pump my system water through the copper coils in the boiler water. Thoughts on the advantage/disadvantage of using a transfer coil?
Great video. Definitely seems like a training video. Will order from you just for making this video.
Big time thx u 👍 4 this video!!!
I couldn't agree more with the to large of water storage part. I have 500 gallons and what a waste!!!! He nailed that part! Also have pipes through the chamber of exhaust for max extraction of heat. See Turboburn from Spokane, wa. good design
Ton of info. 👍. Today u almost need to myo as rules the manufacturers have to follow = big $. Kiss is a rule to follow. Do u sell the chambers etc or just the end products ?
We made a water furnace using 48 inch water jacket from natural gas pipeline 3/4 inch thick,42 inch firebox also from ng pipeline 3/4 inch thick which had dome shaped end welded on it,was used for testing new pipeline,door is 1/4 inch double wall with 11/2 inch spacing for water,the stove is 50 inch deep,chimney is situated on top slightly closer to front,I made a baffle like you described to direct flame around and to back of stove. I made the water outlet near the top of stove at the back where the flame curves around to enter baffle,which makes for very hot water exiting. My draft fan blows into a 4 inch pipe near bottom of stove,has 3/8 inch holes drilled in it and is full length. I have a small squirrel cage fan blowing into the pipe which has a solenoid operated door on it which opens when aquastat powers the fan. I made a grate out of old field cultivator shanks and can pull ashes out at front of stove without disturbing fire,the solenoid operated damper on fan prevents runaway fire on windy day.This is the 27th winter of use and works well at heating 3000sq.ft. (Including garage)and domestic hot water.I insulated stove with 4 inch roxul covered with aluminum flashing.It burns a lot of wood compared to a gasifier but my biggest expense was the rad,aquastat,and fan,we got the gasline pipe and test domes free.I could send you pics if interested.
Sounds like you thought this out really well. How does it perform?
@@AltheatsupplyLLC it works quite well,27 years now,but it burns more wood than I would like but I have access to a lot of wood,we built two of them,the other one heats a large farm shop(in floor heating)and a large house,they were also drying grain with it,I intended to build a shop and heat it also,but never did,therefore stove is oversized.
Oh, to add to my question below, we are in plant climate zone 6b (Central Tennessee). Our house is being built in the midst of a white oak hardwood forest (we own 120 acres of woods), and we have a sawmill, we have tractor, wood hauling trailers, etc. So although the house will be big, we have lots of seasoned oak and it’s free other than labor, and we have the byproducts of the sawmill.
Sounds perfect application for a wood boiler. Happy heating...
7:00 water volume. I'm hoping to have an outdoor wood boiler (actually indoor in a shed) for next season. Now where I live we can have freezing nights and warm 70's days so the heat load is not constant. My plan was to have a large water reservoir (3x 500 gallon propane tanks) that's well insulated (Will wrap with R20-R30 insulation) and separate from the boiler so you can bypass it with valves for fast recovery, or add it back in to absorb the heat if the weather warms up. Then the warm water will be available the next night.
Having the water separate from the stove also helps to reduce losses when you let the fire go out. If the water is hot and part of the stove then convection will keep sending hot air up your chimney just like it does with the fire. Whereas a separate reservoir can be completely wrapped in insulation
Ok
More water = thermal mass = longer lasting heat. The only issue with efficiency is how you build your burn chamber[s] No one wants to tend a fire every 2 hours around the clock. The most efficient systems use 600-2000 gallons or more in VERY well insulated tanks but they are able to achieve gasification and a complete burn from their wood at temperatures high enough to melt steel.
So you are left figuring out how to gassify wood as fast as possible and extract as much heat from the exhaust as possible. This absolutely means running a blower, but it also means you have to run the exhaust through the water as long as possible. But this is where people run into creosote issues. Creosote is caused by unburnt fuels. One of the biggest causes of unburnt fuels is burning wet wood. Steam attaches to other gasses and passes them quickly through the system until it finds a surface cool enough to attach to, leaving deposits behind, before eventually leaving the system and forming back into liquid. This is why people insulate their chimneys with double wall, triple wall, they do everything they can to trap the heat and send it right up into the air where it does nothing but waste energy. So they put dampers in the pipe to try keeping a warm fire that lasts all night, but this only compounds the problem! Many people actually believe in putting wet wood on the fire and damping down the flu for the night.. This is sheer madness!
I see creosote in your chimney as being akin to diesel trucks spewing black smoke everywhere. You think you're going fast but you're really just fouling it up for yourself and everyone else.
So many problems, and little to no solutions. There are a few manufacturers on the market that almost have the perfect setup, and many are from countries with much colder climates. I wish I had the solution. But the more I research the more problems I find.
But the search continues.
Thanks for sharing. Maybe one day I will be able to do the same.
Big Dan: Garn 1000 heater. Burn 1x every 2 days.
@@merrillballantyne I have a hoss 600 and I'm filling 2x's a day. I only have it hooked to my home that is almost 4000 sq ft old drafty farm house. I used insulated pex and buried it 6ft on a 150ft run. It also does my hot water too. I'm really hoping it's the house being drafty that is why my burner isnt very good.
I was thinking the same thing, he's missing the thermal mass part of large boilers. Perhaps a better solution is think concrete walls around a boiler with very think insulation on the outside of that. The boiler could be smaller for sure then and the concrete around the boiler becomes the mass you need to have it put heat out for a long time. European masonry heaters are built this way, small intense fires to build the heat up and then it just radiates out over time.
Just think of all the $$ you save on heat once you build one. Fifteen years of not paying for heat and it's still going.
Loved your videos on it thank you
what do you meant by the chimney thing ? what attach to chimney ?
I have to point out that you call the water circulator a pump. These are impellers so it means they are circulators. We don't want people to confuse the two and go out and buy a pump which far more expensive to run. Second, you want the circulator to be on the return side going back to the wood boiler. Too many times I have seen circulators fail prematurely because they put them on the hot side supplying water to the house from the boiler. There is a reason the vast majority of heating systems have them on the return side. That is why. The amount of water is based on preference. Water is a better mass than the couch style masses people use. 500 gallons of water can heat a 1500 square feet all day in cold weather with only one 2 hour burn per day. That's with proper insulation.
"500 gallons of water can heat a 1500 square feet all day in cold weather with only one 2 hour burn per day. That's with proper insulation."
WOW,,, NOW,, respectively, ,, with a quote like that, I would want to see your boiler setup & or the MATH. (I might agree 100%, as long as the 500 gallons of HEATED water is INSIDE of the house,,,, Where ANY loss of BTU's during storage is radiated into the dwelling?) SO, if I were to add a 500 gallon tank of water, to the outside of my oil fired in-house boiler furnace, it would only kick on once a day,,,, for 2 hrs?
I've only read this far, from newest to oldest, & I believe that I have already found 3 incorrect 'QUOTES' or TIPS from the OP's statements & or video. ANY BTU's lost, from around the boiler, the stack, or up the stack, should be utilized to heat more water,,,, Correct? In a perfect world, I would want every square inch of my BURNER to be surrounded with water, as long as the exhaust temps stay within the clean burn temps. Same as an oil fired boiler,,,, that's correctly adjusted.
I wish we had a way to post pictures, that refer to our reply's or questions. ?
Great video Jeff. I want to build a broiler out of heavy wall pipe. The fire box will be 36” with the wall thickness of 1/2”. I’m just wondering if the wall thickness it to much and if I will have trouble transferring the heat to the outer water jacket?
ones ive built and repaired 1/8th is plenty thick. good for rate of heat transfure. with out taking forevor to heat up.
You basically described a vintage HEATMORE.
I’ve been installing commercial boilers for 30 years. Thinking about building a coal outdoor boiler using a 275 standard oil tank and building a Masonary dry firebox . I see most outdoor boiler designs using a wet design and fires on wet steel fire box most with out any refractory. Makes for a Smokey fire. Have you seen any Masonary dry box boilers using your combustion fans and doors ? Thoughts ? Your tank size and surface area suggestions are noted
Yes, Greenwood designed something like that, The company failed due to management and was hard to manage the heat the ceramic held, especially if the water stopped circulating...
Welding a baffle was the reason I came across this video. I was a bit concerned about choking the fire off? But I guess coming from you with no concern, I feel more confident., and have another project.
Now....with all things being equal, lets say I were burning 14 B-cord per season, how much do you feel a baffle would help? and assuming a barrel heat exchanger 4' long x 3' wide with 6 x 4" tubes across top, how much clearance would you recommend under the tubes? Also, regarding baffle depth, how far towards the front do you feel it's necessary to carry the baffle?
BTW, thanks for all of your great video's.
Yes, a little bit
What would be the minimum water volume just to heat 1 water to air heat exchanger very close by? Perhaps 20 feet of pipe. Can 30 gallons be sufficient? I'm planning multiple water tubes plus small amount of fire tubes In the main boiler pipe with double pass horizontal exhaust and exhaust will be preheating feed water tank that also has return line, all together as a vertical exhaust pipe before entering atmosphere.
This wouldn't be a 24/7 boiler, just to get heat up quick in a kiln for part of a day.
Some water tubes will be direct fire contact. Other water tubes will be #1 exhaust pass. And water tubes feed into fire tube 12" pipe. The steam feeds either to heat exchanger directly, or divert to preheating feed water storage tank.
I love your video. Are these designs built to ASME
Nope!
Very roughly speaking, how big a unit would be needed for a 9,000 square foot courtyard home (shape of a “U”) plus a 1500 square foot rectangle workshop 100 feet away from the home? We’re planning on using an in-floor radiant heat system instead of a forced-air furnace (for both buildings). Thanks for your video series!
All the manufactures make different size units. My rule is "I don't like to be governed by a man or machine" so always side on the larger size. The difference is usually only the size of the "Fuel Tank" or the amount of wood you can add which also gets you a longer burn time.
I was think about taking 2 275 gallon fuel tanks butted up side by side. Using 1 as a water storage and the other as a burn chamber. I would cut out a circle big enough to insert a 55 gallon drum. The drum would be my actual burn chamber with water on all sides. I want to be able to burn wood on occasion but mainly waste motor oil. I have access to thousands of gallons of clean waste oil every year. I want to put a heat exchanger in my existing down draft furnace in my house (2100 sf) and also a heat exchanger in my shop (1000 sf). Is there anything that I should do different because of the waste oil? Thanks I learned a lot from your videos!
Sorry, don't know much about burning waste oil. No experience. But good luck and share your findings. Jeff
What are thoughts on looping copper pipe back and forth rather than a tank
Did you ever follow through with it? I’m wondering the same
Dear Alternative Heating & Supplies, I have a Pengiun 88 woodburner with a top oven, & and an isolated underfloor water heating system covering about 120sqm. Would I be able to connect the two if I covert the oven to store the water? I hope this makes sense. Thank you. S
I have no idea... Sorry.
Would copper piping coiled on the outside of the firebox have the same effect vs a free flowing water jacket?
No, completely different setup. to many variables to mention.
I wonder if you could tell me your thoughts on a ballast tank. My Woodmaster 4400 has a difficult time burning through the night. If it’s in the 20s or below we wake up to a cold house even if I’ve stocked with good seasoned hardwood the night before. The ground lines were replaced last year with pecks into a conduit to illuminate ground water issues. I cannot justify the cost of thermapex and the wrapped stuff was gathering ground water.
I was planning to add a 500 gallon ballast tank in hopes of eliminating this issue. I understand it will require more burn time to heat the ballast tank but had hoped to up my efficiency as I won’t have as much wasted material smoldering and short cycling.
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Did you figure out an answer to this question? I'm designing my system now and debating whether or not to use a ballast tank
@@Nightman2152 I have not. Busy life leaves less time then I’d like for to tinckering with the boiler. Good luck.
What do you think about a burn chamber with water pipes to heat water then that water being pumped into a buffer tank instead of your water tank being on top or having burn chamber in center?
Hard to do and also creates a possible bomb. be careful...
hi jeff, i have a green house which i have h.w. solar coils now in place with 270 gal storage capacity. i do need to build a h.w. heater to make up for cold cloudy days. the greenhouse is 1020 sf total inside area. it requires 27132 btu's total. the goal is to maintain around 60 deg. f inside temp. so, a small wood fired would work. i like the barrel in barrel design. i am a welder, pipe fitter and fabricator w/ a small shop. the double wall is impressive although i would prefer making a soft copper tube coiled heat jacket installed inside around the outside of the primary burn chamber. my piping is 1/2" supply and return. do you sell the parts such as door, barrels, flue to support this type design? thanks,
I have never worked with a design like that before so I'm not sure how it would function. Please share when you get some results. Thank you for asking if we carry the parts for door and stuff, we don't carry anything like that yet... Maybe with your new idea with great results we will in the future... Good luck with your project. Jeff
Is it best to use a propeller or progressive cavity pump
I sell the correct pumps for a boiler, I like the BF-J pumps
how do you get a pile of wood to burn for 12 or 24 hours? how much wood does it take? and is that with a fan on all the time?
good luck with 24hrs.... fans suck, well actually blows... 70% of your heat out the top...
You don't get 24 hours with fan running constant. I can easily go 24 hours with mine heating the house and the fan running when needed to keep the water temperature at the set point. This is even with -20 Celsius weather in a 2000 square-foot 10-year-old house. I will still have embers at 36 hours but the water temp will be dropping. This of course is using quality hard wood.
@@6969smurfy that's why you need the smoke shelf he mentioned to force the flue gasses to burn INSIDE the unit before they hit the chimney.
Why have the pump on the hot supply not the cold return? Cooler water would have less wear on the pump. Not prone to overheating.
Pumps are designed to push not pull. You ideally would like equal pressure on both sides of the pump.
I don’t know why you put the pump where the water is hotter. It’s a better solution to place the pump to push in the boiler. Mainly if you want to avoid cavitation problem. Can you explain me your point of view because i don’t understand it’s the lowest point of the system at the exit of the boiler!
What doesn't make sense to me is that people just have to have things at certain heights, hot side higher than low, when in fact both sides of the pipe are run at the same level. They both go into the ground, they both go into a radiant floor, they both go into a heat transfer tank inside. So no matter what they both have the same back pressure until you change the vertical height of the pump in relation to the inlet or outlet of the tank, or if you put the pump at the house and the house is at a lower grade than the tank. That's the back pressure. The pressure in front of the pump only changes due to the resistance of all the pipe and elbows to and from the house and the height from where it is placed to the height that it exits into the tank.
The real issue here is the fact that a pump needs to stay cool for a desired life expectancy. The last thing I want is to run my hot water through a pump that is trying to stay cool. Remember that both sides of that line has pressure to it from the weight of the water in the tank. Even if the pipe goes down 20 feet to the house and then comes back up--the water in the pipe will be level with the water in the tank. [Look up Egyptian water level] but will start to pour out if you drop the hose even a fraction of an inch so as long as the pump stays below the level of the entire system it will still have head and back pressure.
The only reason to put the pump on the low side of the tank is if the highest point of the system in the house is above the tank, as pumps aren't typically designed to prime themselves very well.
Thank you Big Dan. I saw the same things, especially the pump on the hot side. And milled steel?
@@Grizzydan DAN,,, THANK YOU for all of your 'corrections' & insight,,,, your exactly what this VIDEO needed!
Proper explanation,,, & theories. NOW,,, I'll have to go to 'Alternative Heating & Supplies' play list & view them all,,, hopefully, to find MORE OF YOUR FEEDBACK! Thanks Again
How do you know when the pump isn't working?
You will have no heat!
Would you be opposed to posting a video about the electrical side off the outdoor wood boiler? I need to re-wire one and there's not much help out there. I'm replacing the ranco temp control and wiring.
Every boiler is wired differently.
I'm definitely not an expert but it seems that a fan, although making great heat, would also be blowing your wood right up the chimney. FAST!
I can see how logic would deduce that! LOL But when controlled properly, and with the appropriate CFMs for your stove, the fan actually is extremely effective, as well as assisting with many other factors that help the stove to be most efficient. Check out our damper kits on our website for better understanding!!
How much do they cost?
Many pumps and many prices. Call us for us to help you size your pump for your application.
flow on the top return on the button otherwise okay
I wish u could figure out how to combine the wood boiler with a pizza oven 🧐
copper tube around ceiling of oven ? back into the spa is my plan
Why so many commercials?
Wouldn’t think a professional would not know that mild steel is pronounced mild, not milled.
Shane K
He said both milled and mild. I think it is pronounced both ways depending on your part of the world 😀
Sounds like a guy could buy a junk wore out unit and buy the kits you sell to rebuild the used unit and save alot of money rather than building something from scratch
why are you calling it milled steel when it is mild steel. pronounced like wild.
There is nothing wrong with your diagram. I laughed when you said "WIMMEN ARE THE COMPLAINERS" regarding fan hum. Nice.
Thanks..
Its not DIY if you buy a kit.